Seen as the rebel Essien, Tony has always felt like an outsider. With a daredevil lifestyle, he’s more at home in leathers than in a suit, and more likely to be seen gracing the red carpets at a movie premiere with a starlet draped on his arms than in a boardroom. Still, he’s determined to prove himself to his family and build a successful movie business. Spotting Rita Dike at an event, he sees the potential star of his new movie and his next pleasure conquest.

Rita is a journalist looking for her big break. When she inherits the journal of her late best friend who claims Tony is not an Essien, she spots the perfect scoop. Her acting classes come in handy when she has to pose as an actress to get closer to Tony. Succumbing to the charms of dark and brooding Tony might just be the only way to get through the close ranks of the Essien family.

But as she gets closer to the truth, Rita risks losing the riding rebel who’s raided her heart. Can love heal hearts or will deceit break them?

His grip on her arm tightened and he increased his pace as they headed across the polished marbled floor of the lobby to the lifts. She stumbled. He swivelled, grasped her shoulder, and pulled her into him to save her from falling over. He'd forgotten she was tottering on sky-high-heeled shoes. He really shouldn’t be such a bastard no matter how pissed off he was at the situation.His panting breath mingled with hers, their faces only an inch apart. "I'm sorry.""It's okay," she whispered in a breathy voice, surprisingly subdued.The urge to kiss her rose, watering his mouth. They stood in the middle of a busy lobby with prying eyes and mobile phone cameras. Tomorrow, their pictures would be splashed all over the Internet. It never bothered him when that happened. However Rita's artless demeanour indicated she wasn't used to the limelight. Something in him wanted to shield her from the exposure.So he tamped down his desire and tilted her head up so she had to look into his eyes. Her soft, smooth skin felt warm and beautiful brown irises met his hesitantly. "I'm going to call the lift and go up to my room. It's your choice if you want to come up or not.""What..." She sucked in a breath as if gathering strength to say what she needed. "What do you want from me?""I want to fuck you," he said in low voice meant for her ears only.Her lips parted, her breath hitched. The pulse on her neck thundered and her throat rippled as she swallowed. But she didn't back away and her saucer-wide eyes turned molten brown with lust.There. He had his answer. She wanted him. Would she let him fuck her? Because that's what it would be. In his world, sex was about fucking. Wild, animalistic, unrestrained rutting. He would see to her pleasure again and again. Still, it wouldn’t be sweet and it wouldn’t be loving.A lift opened and a man stepped out. Tony released her and walked into the lift.Turning, he faced her. Enough game playing. She had to come to him of her own volition.She stood there looking sexy as sin as she bit her bottom lip and her forehead puckered in a frown as if she wondered why he'd left her in the lobby."I'm not going to drag you into the lift, if that’s what you were expecting." His fingers itched to do it, though. He didn't want to contemplate that she would turn around and walk away. Yet he had to give her the opportunity. "You have to walk into this lift yourself if you want me."She glanced behind her and took a hesitant step backward.His heart thundered. She was going to run. He held his breath and counted to ten to stop from stepping out and grabbing her arm. Instead, he jammed his finger into the door hold button and waited. Seconds ticked by that felt like hours. Sweat beaded his forehead.She looked up and met his gaze. "Can you make the pain go away?"

Kiru Taye is the award-winning and best-selling author of His Treasure.

As a young adult, she read a lot of books. Mostly, she loved the romantic stories for the fantasy of being swept away by dashing heroes to exotic locations. Though her reading tastes have matured since then, she still loves reading romance novels.

Having always dreamt of writing novels, she finally 'bit the bullet' in 2010 and wrote her first contemporary romance novel which she submitted the first chapter as an entry to New Voices writing contest in September 2010. It was shortlisted for ‘call-back’.

She writes historical, contemporary and paranormal romance. Her stories are sensual and steamy, her characters passionate and sassy and her settings, atmospheric and exotic.

When she’s not writing, she’s reading, hanging out with family or traveling. Born in Nigeria, she currently lives in the UK with her husband and two children.

She is a founding member of Romance Writers of West Africa and also an associate member of Romance Writers of South Africa. She is currently published by Breathless Press.